Dimension Hoppers - KOALA is GO!
by Kayley Fisher
Summary: This time, KOALA land in a dimension with the boys in blue... NOTE: Read the prologue - it will explain everything.
1. Prologue

This is a set of stories that will come into play later on in my KOALA-verse. I know I haven't even put up chapter one of that, but consider this a prequel. I'm going to be writing these in random orders. The one I'm going to publish first will not be the first dimension they visit, but it is order of writing. Basically, these stories are my sneaky way of keeping to my comfortable KOALA format, but writing Fan Fictions for other things I love too.

For these stories, W.I.T.C.H fans will have to know a few things...

All characters are my O/C's. They are the next generation of Guardians. Kayley, Quintessence. Opal, Fire. Amethyst, Water. Lorelai, Earth. Ash, Air.

For the purpose of these stories, the Earth Guardian is not present due to things that will happen in KOALA. The Guardians are also without the Heart of Kandrakar and have very little magic. They have been given a device which will transport them across various different dimensions. It is called the Dimension Shifter (pretty inspired name, huh?). It can land them anywhere in any world. I know, nothing has been explained. Like I said, prequel. This'll give you a gist on the characters and ideas while KOALA will explain them in detail.


	2. Calling International Rescue

"Ugh… what happened?" Kayley groggily asked herself, clutching her head. Next to her was Amethyst, lifeless.

"Amethyst, Amethyst wake up!" she yelled, shaking her with the one arm that could reach her.

Somehow, that seemed to do the trick. Amethyst awoke with a, "Huh? Whuh-?"

Rubbing her eyes, she asked, "Is it morning already?"

Taking a look at her surrounding, then a double take on everything, she laid back down on the rocks behind her.

"What on Earth do you think you are doing?" Kayley demanded.

"I'm still dreaming, so I might as well make myself comfortable," she noted, shifting her position to make herself cosy.

Kayley shot her a quick electric shock.

"Okay! Okay!" Amethyst sat upright with some speed. "I get it. Nap time later."

Amethyst looked down at her legs. "Crap," she commented. Hers and Kayley's legs were trapped underneath a fallen metal beam. There were rocks on top of them too. Looking up, Amethyst deduced that the roof of the mine they were in must have collapsed. She sighed, "Anywhere in the world…"

"I know," Kayley agreed. She asked, "How long have we been out?"

Amethyst rolled up her sleeve and checked her watch. "Uh… about half an hour."

"At least we missed, well, the pain stage. I literally can't feel my legs."

"Same. What do you remember from the trip here?"

Kayley thought for a moment. "Memories a blank," she said eventually. "Oh wait… yeah. I got a violent landing. Rocks…"

Amethyst added, "I guess the whole roof collapse came into it…"

"Yep. Um… I think there was some crashing noises… I know you screamed…"

"I did?"

"Yeah, I think that's what did me in. Not the hit over the head - your agonizing shriek."

Amethyst chuckled. Doing another look around, she noted, "Opal and Ash aren't here."

"I gathered," Kayley replied, dryly.

"Aw double crap!" Amethyst whined. "Look…"

She pointed to the shard remains of their Dimension Shifter. It was in at least fifty different pieces.

Kayley turned to Amethyst with desperate eyes. "Amy… we're stuck here. We can't move, Teletransporting isn't possible, and this air…" Kayley tasted it closer on her tongue. "This isn't good,"

"Contact Opal and Ash," Amethyst suggested.

Kayley agreed, and began, "_Opal, it's me, Kayley. Where are you? Are you hurt?"_

Seconds later…

_"Yeah,"_ Opal replied, spitting out a mouthful of water. _"Peachy,"_

_"Good. Is Ash there with you? Where are you exactly?"_

_"Ash is right here. We are… near a beach. And you?"_

_"Trouble,"_ Kayley stated, putting it bluntly. _"Telepathy isn't helping. I'm gunna pass out any moment. Talk to you when I can…"_

_"No rush…"_ Opal wryly replied, taking a tighter hold of the buoyant.

Kayley felt woozy. The mine was spinning, and she grabbed for Amethyst to try and keep her balance. Just then, a ball of water splashed in her face and the spinning stopped.

"You're welcome," Amethyst smiled, devilishly.

Kayley wiped most of it from her face, sat upright and turned back to Amethyst. "We're gunna die," she stated, matter-of-factly.

Amethyst considered this, said eventually, "I don't want to die. I thought I'd meet my end in something a little more heroic, like trying to save the world or something. Not by suffocation or starvation, whichever comes first."

Amethyst was slightly tearful, so Kayley assured, "It's fine. I'll think of something. We'll be fine."

Kayley tried to keep her word, thinking of their escape, but it had been minutes of silence and nothing had come to her. To any of them. Then…

"Hey, what's that on the floor?" Kayley asked, pointing to some heap of plastic on the floor not ten feet from them.

"It looks like an old walkie-talkie," Amethyst replied. "I don't think it's in too good a shape; but even if it does work, who would you call? I mean, we literally have no idea of where in the world we are."

Kayley's eyes widened. It took a second for Amethyst to catch on. "No," she contended, firmly.

"Why not?" Kayley argued.

"They don't exist, for starters!" Amethyst protested. "And they're puppets!"

"Marionettes," Kayley corrected. "And they may exist in this dimension."

"What are the chances of that, Kayley?"

"What are the chances of survival if we don't even try?" Kayley countered.

"It won't work. You'd be wasting your energy," Amethyst maintained.

"Do we really have a choice?" Kayley returned, pleadingly.

Then, Amethyst saw something in Kayley's eyes that she very rarely saw. Fear. She seemed desperate, like she actually believed that she was going to die here and she was clutching at straws.

"Please…" Kayley begged. Amethyst didn't know if her face was wet from tears or the water she'd poured on her. Amethyst concluded it _had to have been_ the latter. Kayley never lost her cool in times like this. Well, very rarely.

Amethyst shrunk down. "Okay, try it. I still say you're wasting your breath."

Kayley brightened up, like she was a child being told she was going to Disneyland!

"Thank you!" Kayley cheered.

Amethyst simply rolled her eyes and said, "Just get on with it,"

Kayley nodded. "Quintessence!" she exclaimed, directing her gaze at the broken and battered walkie-talkie, silently praying for it to still work enough to transmit. Judging by the state of it, it didn't look good. They waited on baited breath.

Luckily, it still had a little bit of life left in it. After some odd sounding squeaks and fizzes, it finally crackled into life. "Greetings, dolls. The names Darius - what can I do for you lovely ladies today?"

Both girls breathed out with relief.

"Hi there!" Kayley cheered. "My name is Kayley, and my friend here is Amethyst."

Amethyst nodded in greeting.

Darius smiled playfully. "Amethyst… that's the _loveliest_ name I've heard in all my years, _doll_."

Amethyst blushed and edged to Kayley, saying quietly, "I-Is he… _flirting_ with me?"

Kayley forced herself to stifle the laughter. She brushed by Amethyst's query and back to the task at hand. "Darius, Amethyst and I are in a spot of trouble. Is there any chance you can put out a call for us?"

"Sure thing, doll - what's the frequency?"

Kayley's smile grew into a wicked grin. "Any frequency,"

Amethyst rolled her eyes.

The static fizzed and crackled until it clicked and went silent. "Go ahead, doll," Darius instructed, reassuringly.

Kayley cleared her throat and took a long, deep exhale. Suddenly, she realized how stupid her idea sounded. Nevertheless, she was desperate. "Calling International Rescue. Come in please, International Rescue."

No reply.

"See…" Amethyst sighed, almost disappointed, until…


	3. This is International Rescue

"_This is International Rescue receiving you. Come in please,_"

A dumbstruck Amethyst stared at the walkie-talkie, eyes as big as saucepans. Kayley sat upright, puzzled over anything. Her mouth tried to form words, but she couldn't get them out.

"…J-John?..." Kayley finally managed, but it was too quiet for even Amethyst to hear, let alone International Rescue.

"_International Rescue receiving you. Come in please._"

"Say something!" Amethyst urged, quietly.

Kayley nodded. "Um, hello. M-My name is Kayley. My friend and I are in trouble," she stuttered.

"_Okay, try to remain calm,_" John mistook Kayley's start-struck stutter for fear. "_What's the emergency?_"

"We are trapped in a collapsed mine underneath a fallen beam." Amethyst supplied. "We aren't able to free ourselves and the air is starting to get… weird. It's harder to breath than normal, put it that way."

"_Okay, can you tell us your location?_"

Amethyst and Kayley exchanged helpless glances. "Truth be told, we don't know," Kayley admitted. "It's a complicated story of how we ended up here. We don't even know the country."

John pressed a flashing button and a printout dropped from the machine. "_Okay, I can get a global track of you from your signal,_" he assured, "_so don't worry, International Rescue will have you out in no time._"

"Thanks John," Kayley soon realized her mistake. "I mean, um, thanks Sir."

Luckily for them, John didn't press the matter.

When John had hung up the call, Amethyst said, "Okay, that's not fair. You do _not_ get to be that lucky."

Tracy Island. It had been quite a serene fortnight on the island, due to the fact no rescues had taken place for a while. Sometimes that equalled boredom, but in this case they were thankful for the peace and quiet. Alan had just returned from his shift on Thunderbird Five not two days ago, and was still getting used to having his feet on the ground again. He was outside by the pool, counting laps for Gordon as he practiced his times.

Virgil was thankful for the quiet as well. On his last rescue he had severely hurt his wrist when an explosion threw him into a wall. He'd landed on it quite bad. It was a miracle it wasn't anything more than a bad sprain, but thankfully it was already on the mend.

Despite the glorious sunshine outside, he had retired to the grand piano, since he hadn't been able to play it for days without a sharp pain shooting through his arm. Scott joined him and listened intently to the soothing music.

They were in the perfect place to here when John's call came through his picture frame.

Jeff Tracy pressed a button on his desk. "Go ahead, John."

John's motionless picture transformed to a video cam and he said, "_I have a distress call coming in from an abandoned mine near the coast of Brazil. There's two girls trapped inside under a collapsed beam. From what I gathered, the air is stagnant. They probably have a few hours left._"

"Thanks John, keep in touch." Jeff directed, ending the call with his second eldest.

By now, the entirety of the Earth-bound Tracy family had gathered in the living area.

"Back in business," Gordon smiled, taking a seat on the arm of the couch.

Jeff turned to Scott and asked, "How quickly can you get out there, son?"

"Thunderbird One can get there in just over an hour, Sir," Scott replied, already edging towards the entrance to the Thunderbird One hanger. It was no secret that he'd been itching for a rescue, dreadful as that sounds, for a while now. He wasn't going to miss this one, for any reason.

His father gave him the all clear, and Scott hastened to the secret entrance on the wall.

Jeff now turned to Virgil. "How's that wrist now, Virgil?"

"A lot better, Father." Virgil answered, truthfully. Predicting his Father's next question, he said, "Thunderbird Two could get there in about two and a half hours at full speed."

Jeff smiled at his middle child. "Very good. Pod one should have all the equipment you'll require. And take Alan along with you."

"Yes Father," the two boys chorused. Virgil moved to where the shoot to Thunderbird Two had appeared. He carefully positioned himself on his back, and then he slid away. Alan kept his prime position on the couch as it lowered him into the hanger.

Virgil landed on his chair in the cockpit and began to fire up his machine. Within seconds he had flicked all the switches that enabled him to begin launching sequence: First and second for power, third for wardrobe and fourth that began pod selecting. Whilst pod one fitted itself into the chasse, Virgil changed into his proper IR attire.

Alan's elevator now lowered him into the cockpit with Virgil. "Here we go again," he said, stepping out of the cart and to one of the passenger seats.

Virgil, now dressed and seated, began flicking more switches and softly chuckled. "Yes we are,"

"_Good luck then boys,_" Jeff said through the radio transmitter. "_You're going to have to push Two to its limit if you hope to reach them in time, Virgil._"

"Yes Father," Virgil responded. The cliff face covering Two's hanger started to drop. Then, another protective door to the hanger fell into place over the hole on the runway where the cliff face once was. Slowly, Thunderbird Two drove itself down the runway. As always, the palm trees sprung down to give it more space.

Once it reached the end of the runway, a ramp started lifting it into take-off position.

"All systems go," Virgil muttered to himself, gearing up for the flight. "Three… two…"

The jets ignited and Thunderbird Two soared off into the sky.

Scott was in the air now and heading towards John's co-ordinates. John had given them all the information he could about the situation in the mine. Luckily, he said it should be pretty straight forward. They'd already done a similar rescue in Australia not too far back.

Scott steadily flew his craft to the location, present speed 11,000 miles per hour and increasing.

He pressed the button on his radio communicator and said, "Thunderbird Two from Thunderbird One. Judging by present speed and course I should be over the danger zone in fifty-five minutes from now."

_"FAB Scott,"_ came the reply. _"I'm just over an hour behind you. Inform me the landing situation when you arrive."_

Back inside the cave, forty-five minutes had passed since Scott had taken off. Breathing was fine… so far - though it was growing increasingly worse as time ticked by. Boredom had played a significant part in their waiting. _You run out of conversation topics when you are constantly fretting the thought that these cave walls would be the last thing you see._

They had already received a message from John saying International Rescue was on their way, so now it was simply a waiting game.

To pass the time, Kayley had engaged Darius in small conversation. He had told her about his previous owner that dropped him here around a year ago whilst he was exploring these mines. The man didn't even realize he had dropped Darius, and if he did he never came back for him. Darius spent his time chatting with some of the other frequencies until that became too repetitive. He preferred his own company, so he spent his time practicing one of his favourite hobbies of poetry writing, which to Kayley's standards was actually pretty good when Darius read them aloud.

Darius did enjoy chatting with one frequency though. It was a girl named Melinda. She and Darius would chat for hours at a time and Darius said she was the 'love of his life'.

_Amethyst seemed mildly offended by the way he talked about her._

Then, after not a few weeks, his battery died. He had been asleep all this time until Kayley revived him, which he was very grateful for.

In turn, Kayley told Darius how they had ended up in this predicament and how they don't even know where on the globe the other half of their party is.

After that, Amethyst then brought up what they needed to do after they get rescued.

"Assuming we get rescued," she added in, for good measure.

"I don't know," Kayley admitted. "I mean, our dimension shifter is shot to pieces and us alone don't have a hope in Hell of fixing it. Besides that, we don't even know where Ash and Opal are."

"They said they were by a beach," Amethyst mentioned. "Not that it narrows it down or anything."

"Well, once we find out exactly where we are, we can give them our location to teletransport to us."

Amethyst gave Kayley an unsure glare.

"You're right," Kayley sighed. "Teletransporting is barely accurate as it is. With all that's happened… you're right. It's hopeless."

Kayley's tone was wavered. Even the reassurance by International Rescue wasn't enough to stop her worrying. She looked afraid, something rare for Amethyst to see. Despite everything, Kayley always had her feet on the ground.

"Hey, hey, it's going to be alright," Amethyst reassured, softly. "We'll worry about the others later, okay? Everything's going to be fine…" she hesitated on her last statement.

"Thunderbird Two from Thunderbird One, approaching danger zone," Scott announced across the radio.

_"FAB,"_ Virgil replied.

Scott manoeuvred the steering and sited the best place for landing. Luckily, the area by the mine was pretty barren and deserted, and there was enough space for two Thunderbirds.

Firing his retros, he began vertical decent.

After landing, he examined the surroundings outside the mine. Luckily, there was no locals around to disrupt, only a beach below the cliff they were on.

Now all he had to do was wait for Thunderbird Two and the equipment.

He turned on his walkie-talkie and said, "This is Scott of International Rescue calling Kayley and Amethyst. Thunderbird Two is on its way with our equipment. We'll have you out of there in no time. How's the air in there?"

_"Thanks Scott,"_ Kayley replied. _"The air is bad, but we're doing fine. Well, for now. I don't know when that's all gunna change though…"_

An hour later though, they found out.

"I don't know how much longer I can take this," Amethyst stated, between a chain of coughs. "Where are these guys coming from, anyway? The middle of nowhere? South Dakota?"

"The South Pacific," Kayley corrected, coughing equally as hard. "They won't be long now. Scott's outside and Virgil will be arriving shortly."

"If Scott's here then why the Hell isn't he doing anything?!" Amethyst yelled, soon regretting it. She clutched her chest, trying to ease the rising pain.

"He doesn't have the equipment," Kayley informed, virtually spluttering the words. "Thunderbird Two is the one that'll help us. Thunderbird one is a _scout_ ship."

"So in other words he's bloody useless," Amethyst snapped. Kayley was about to return something of the same velocity but decided against it. She saw Amethyst was getting worse, and didn't want to push her. All the colour in her cheeks had faded and her voice was raspy. It didn't take long for her to get worse.

"My head…" Amethyst grumbled, starting to shake. Her body kind of fell with the motions she was seeing. She couldn't sit still.

"Amethyst, Amethyst look at me!" Kayley shouted, spinning the girl to face her. "Now, you have to hang on. It won't be long, okay?"

Amethyst mumbled something in reply. The room was spinning at a rate of knots, and her head felt like it had been impaled with all the remaining rocks in the roof.

"Amethyst, please…" Kayley pleaded, tears at her eyes. "You have to hang on…"


	4. Approaching Danger Zone

Virgil could see Thunderbird One had landed in the distance. Alan was standing by the front window, observing the surroundings with him.

Over the radio, he said, "Approaching danger zone. I'll be landing in approximately four and three quarter minutes."

_"FAB," _Scott acknowledged.

Soon enough, Thunderbird Two was on the ground. Virgil released the pod and then proceeded to land next to it.

After Alan and Virgil were out of Thunderbird Two, Scott proceeded to remark, "About time,"

"Sorry," Virgil apologized. "We went as fast as we could."

"It's okay, but they're not doing too good in there. We need to move fast. Get the hover bikes."

But before they could hurry off, a transmission came through Scott's radio:

_"Amethyst is unconscious,"_ came Kayley's empty voice.

"All the more reason to move faster," Alan motivated. "Let's go."

"Oh thank God," Kayley breathed as Scott, Virgil and Alan parked up there hover bikes and dismounted.

However, Scott, Virgil and Alan took one look at the beam and their hearts sank.

"I thought John said the beam was made of wood," Virgil frowned. "Our equipment won't cut this."

Scott swore silently. "Alright, we'll just have to try to lift it then."

Virgil and Scott grabbed either end of the beam and attempted to lift. When they failed, they tried again, and again, heaving it with all their strength.

Dismally watching on, Alan commented, "That thing must weigh a ton. You're my brothers, not supermen."

"It was a long shot," Virgil agreed.

Giving up lifting, Scott said, "Maybe if we cut it in two it would be a bit more manageable?" he suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Virgil agreed. "I can feel it starting to give. Two pieces would be a lot easier."

Alan halted their celebrations. "How are we going to cut it?" he asked. "The portable laser cutters are still in the shop, and I don't think we'll be able to fit any other equipment down this narrow mine."

Virgil thought for a moment. "It would take too long to saw it, but it's our last hope. Alan, run outside and get the electronic saws."

"Yes Virgil," Alan replied, hastily moving towards the entrance of the mine before Scott put his arm on his shoulder to stop him.

"Now hold on," Scott said, "Do you have any idea how long that would take to free them? They wouldn't stand a chance."

Scott got up and moved to his hover bike, then came back with a portable laser gun.

Virgil's eyes grew huge. "Scott, Brains hasn't fixed them yet. They're not safe to use."

"Well we gotta try something," Scott pleaded. "Or else they're dead for sure. What's the motto of International Rescue? 'Don't give up at any costs'."

Starting to get the gun into position, he ordered, "Virgil, Alan, get clear of the blast radius. I'm not gambling any more casualties than necessary."

Alan and Virgil obeyed, reluctantly.

With that, Scott began to cut. Well, he tried. It fired up… partially… but it couldn't gather the power to summon the laser. It was starting to overheat, and Scott worried about it blowing up. It wasn't unlikely. The electricity was pulsing around it… but it refused to summon the laser beam.

"It's no use…" Scott grumbled, fiddling with the blasted contraption.

Kayley overheard the concern. Her breathing was near impossible but she forced herself not to slip into the all-too-easy state of unconsciousness like Amethyst. She had to hang on.

She coughed, again and again, each one burning her dry throat with a searing pain worse than the last.

"Quintessence," Kayley spluttered between rasping coughs.

A small ball of electricity floated from Kayley hand and landed on the laser… and it fired up.

"Ah, thank goodness," Scott breathed, beginning to cut through the beam.

Alan started at Kayley, examining the girl a little closer this time. He'd seen that little ball of electricity magically float from her hand and start up the tool, just with a word.

"Quintessence?" he considered. He'd never heard the word before. "What in Hell is that?"

Kayley rubbed her eyes, trying to free her vision from the dust gathering around them. There, her gaze fell on the remains of the Dimension Shifter. It'd gone out of her mind since the last time Amethyst and her spoke about it. But she couldn't just leave it there - it was their only ticket home.

Scott was half way down the beam by now. When he was through, it was all systems go. No time to waste.

"Alan…" she weakly called, between coughs. Talking was incredibly hard, but Kayley couldn't contemplate an alternative. The pain was going to have to come. She didn't care. "Alan…" she tried again, this time grabbing his attention. She motioned him to her side.

Hesitantly, he came.

She motioned to the scraps of plastic on the ground. "See those? They are important… *cough*… _very_ important. Please… can you get them?"

"What are they?" he asked, nervously.

"Please," Kayley implored with every bit of strength she had left in her voice. "The walkie-talkie too…"

Alan frowned, but took a bag from his pocket and began collecting the remains. They were so bitty; some were hard to define from gravel. Though, he collected all he could find in good time. The walkie-talkie included.

"Thank you," Kayley smiled. She was slipping closer and closer into unconsciousness, and she knew it. Luckily, she didn't have long to go...

"I'm through!" Scott cheered. Putting the gun on his back, he ordered, "Virgil, grab the other end of this beam, quickly. Alan, you pull Kayley out. Ready?"

The boys nodded, and after a count of three, Kayley's legs were free from the beam. Amethyst's soon after. They carried the two girls onto the hover bikes and hastened for the mine exist, thankful to be driving towards fresh air. Kayley was thankful more than anyone. As soon as the blinding sunlight shone across her face she was so overwhelmed with joy that she didn't even go 'Thunderbird spotting' the second she got out.

They stopped when they were clear from the cave, dismounted, and Virgil helped Kayley rest against a rock. Then, Kayley's happiness was clouded with something else. Nausea. The sickness feeling went away when they had the 'excitement' of International Rescue turning up, but it hadn't forgotten itself. Scott, predicting how she would feel, passed her a bucket which she couldn't take fast enough.

"The air you were breathing wasn't toxic or poisonous, just stagnant," Scott explained. "That means you're gunna feel like death for the next couple of hours but they'll be no lasting effects."

"Thank you," Kayley said after the bucket was disposed of. She then gladfully accepted the cup of water Virgil offered her.

She turned to the still-out-of-it Amethyst lying against a rock next to her and failed to remain calm. Amethyst had been out for quite some time now and Kayley wasn't even sure if she was still breathing.

"You're such a great leader, Kayley," Kayley scolded herself. Tears were almost pouring down her cheeks when she desperately asked, "What about Amethyst? How do we get her round? Will she be okay?"

"She'll be fine," Virgil assured, fixing a breathing apparatus around Amethyst's mouth. "A few breaths of this and she'll be right as reign."

The tears still fell, but Kayley smiled sincerely and said, "Thank you. Thank you all, for everything. We… we would have died." That realization hit Kayley with a wallop, even she was used to that thought by now thanks to her time as a Guardian.

"No problem," Scott smiled.

Kayley looked at the two ginormous aircrafts not a hundred feet from her. "So that's Thunderbird One and Two," Kayley stated, with surprisingly less enthusiasm than expected. It had been a long day.

The three bothers confirmed that, though the massive writing across the side was kind of a giveaway.

Soon, Amethyst came round. Scott, Virgil and Alan didn't even consider leaving until they were both back on their feet. They also didn't want to leave them until they regained their memory, _which was obviously the reason they didn't know what country they were in._

Kayley and Amethyst tried to wave Scott and Virgil off when they attempted to inspect them for concussion, but failed. "We're fine," Amethyst insisted, politely.

"Oh no you're not," Virgil countered. "It takes one massive hit over the head for you to forget what country you're in."

Kayley bit her lip and turned to Amethyst. "Yeah, about that…" the latter began, though Kayley quickly hushed her.

"Well, they might as well know," Amethyst protested. "One, I'm not in shape to think up some poorly written excuse today; two, they'll no doubt find out anyway; and three is the fact they might even be able to help us."

Kayley considered this. "I still think that-"

"Girls," Alan interrupted. "The truth is the easiest thing to remember. Now, what can't you tell us?"

Kayley sighed. "Truth is, we're not really from this world. We're Guardians, and were sent here when those shards in that bag transported us here from another dimension."

Alan and Scott tried to stop a grin spreading across their faces. Then, Kayley realized just how stupid what she'd said sounded. Amethyst concurred. They did, however, need to plead their case.

Virgil raised an eyebrow, and then said, "Scott, keep checking them for any signs of concussion."

Before Scott could try to examine them again, Kayley pointed to Thunderbird One and called, "Quintessence!"

The Thunderbird's engines fired up on call and was about to fly into the air before Kayley stopped it. Kayley groaned and fell onto Amethyst's shoulder. "Remind me to try something smaller next time, okay Amy?"

The three bothers stood aghast.

Alan gulped hard. "T-That was t-the word t-that you… that y-you…"

"That I said in the mine to get the laser gun working, yes," Kayley finished. "It's quintessence, the fifth element of electricity. It can make things come alive. Magic, in short."

"So _that's_ how the laser started working," Scott pieced together, stating the obvious. He nodded, knowingly.

"So you're not scared?" Amethyst inquired, kind of thrown back by his tone. "Not going to class us as witches and throw us in the nearest river?"

"I might…" Alan muttered, before Virgil nudged him hard enough to shut him up.

Scott walked over to Thunderbird Two and into the first aid section. There, he bought back with him two pairs of crutches. Silently, he helped the two girls to their feet.

"We want to know everything," Virgil demanded. "Every detail on how you got here, about your 'magic' and 'dimensions'. Everything. From there, we'll decide on the best course of action."

Deeming this fair, the two girls explained everything…


	5. Thunderbird One to Base

When they'd finished, Virgil, Alan and Scott took some time to contemplate it.

Alan was the first to speak. "So, in your dimension, we're puppets?!" he checked, indignantly.

"Marionettes," Amethyst corrected. "And Kayley has a major crush on y-OW!"

Amethyst rubbed her now bruised arm, courtesy of Kayley.

"That's a lot to take in," Virgil said, rubbing his forehead.

Scott checked the surrounding area. No-one was nearby, despite the two great eyesores positioned in view of the nearest town and beach. "Where are your comrades then?" he asked.

"Not it!" Amethyst quickly blurted.

"Oh come on, I did it last time!" Kayley whined.

"Hey, you snooze you lose,"

"Oh, so that's how you're going to play it?"

"Girls!" Scott interrupted, calming the situation before any tempers flared. Being the oldest brother, he was used to the job. He asked, "What are you two talking about? Do what exactly?"

"Telepathy," the two girls chorused, Kayley adding, "It's a real bore, to say the least."

"Yeah," Amethyst agreed. "That crystal we mentioned supplies our power. Without it, we run on life force. Telepathy drains that life force. Well, in this situation, Kayley's life force."

"I hate you," Kayley grumbled, taking a swing at Amethyst with her crutch. Luckily, Alan stopped it.

Amethyst and the three brothers looked to Kayley expectantly. She was the leader, so yeah, it was technically her job. Kayley knew that. But she'd just got rid of one headache, only to replace it with an imminent migraine.

"Okay, here goes…" she sighed.

Kayley cleared her mind, freeing herself from all her surrounding distractions with the goal of focusing her mind on Opal's telepathic link. Her head began to ache and her chest throb as she did, but she willed herself to ignore her subconscious, seemingly tempting her with light-headedness and fixated on the words…

_"Opal… Opal, are you there?"_

Unfortunately, the side effects of telecommunication didn't just affect Kayley - Opal suffered too, groaning the reply, _"I'm here, yes. Are you two safe now?"_

"Just about," Kayley responded. Determined not to give in to the agony, she continued, _"You're going to have to come to us. I can give you our location, but you're going to have to…"_

Opal sighed_. "You know we can't, Kayley. We would probably perish from exhaustion."_

_"Eh, you're right,"_ Kayley agreed, sighing. _"Okay, I'll think of something. Where are you?"_

_"Coral Beach. Brazil, I think,"_ Opal answered. _"Notable features… there is a crowd of people surrounding us, and a ridiculous looking drinks hut with fairy lights on it not ten feet away."_

_"Okay, I have to go pass out now. See you later,"_

Kayley kept true to her word. She opened her eyes - it was no surprise she was already of the floor. The faces of Scott, Virgil, Alan and Amethyst were staring down at her and she wondered for a second if she was dreaming.

"Is she going to be alright?" Virgil fretted.

Amethyst smiled devilishly. "She'll be fine," she assured, dropping a ball of water on Kayley's face. And another. And another.

"Hey, quit it," Kayley burbled, coughing up the mouthful of water she'd just swallowed.

Slowly, she got to her feet with the aid of the others. Shaking her head to try and get rid of the mist, she said, "They're on Coral Beach in Brazil. Is that anywhere close?"

"Close is a good summery," Scott replied, walking over to the cliff edge he'd spotted earlier and looked down to the beach below. "I don't know if they're there though. Too many people."

Kayley informed, "Opal said that there's a crowd around her, and a really tacky wooden hut with fairy lights on it."

Scott turned back and smiled. "I've found the other Guards,"

"Guardians," Amethyst corrected, grinning.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Virgil prompted, cheerily indicating to Thunderbird Two.

"Wait," Kayley halted. She'd managed to contain her sheer fan-girliness up until now; She refrained from running up and hugging Alan, screaming when she saw the two Thunderbird crafts and having her life saved by International Rescue, all in the aid of trying to remain a level-headed leader. Now she would get to ride in Thunderbird Two? _Oh boy…_

Kayley's smile almost took up half of her face as she clarified, "Are you saying that we get to ride in Thunderbird Two?"

Virgil realized her excitement, but thought best to tease, "You don't have to. We could leave you to walk-"

Kayley had already hobbled past them all stopped at the top of the steps to the cockpit of Thunderbird Two before Virgil could finish. Kayley gazed inside, eyes sparkling in wonderment.

"Don't mind her," Amethyst advised, rolling her eyes. "Bar the broken legs, this is literally her dream."

Kayley grinned madly. "I'm like those kids in Australia, though I'm not gunna throw Scott out the window and to the chicken coops!"

With that, she bounded inside.

Scott shook his head. "How do you know about that? Was that on television too?!" His face fell, thinking of the overwhelming embarrassment he would have felt if that was filmed in _his_ dimension.

Scott began to switch on his Thunderbird. "Are the girls okay?" he asked over the radio.

_"Their doing good,"_ Virgil replied, firing up his own craft. _"It's actually amusing to watch them. The brunette is like a child in a candy shop!"_

Scott chuckled. "Their good kids," he replied. "Strange, but good. I still haven't come to terms with everything they told us though."

_"Me neither,"_ Virgil agreed, and Alan seconded that in the background.

Once the crafts had fired up, Scott flew ahead to see if they had room to land on the beach not too far away from the remaining 'Guardians'. The idea still played loose in his mind.

Nevertheless, he scouted ahead. Luckily, when the crowds saw the two International Rescue crafts flying towards them, they sort of shuffled to one side, allowing enough room for both to land without getting hit by the crashing waves.

When Scott descended, he took a look out of his window to see all the happy smiling faces of the little ones pointing excitedly at him and Two. Scott smiled, almost a little upset as the photographing protection system wiped away all of their gleeful pictures of the Thunderbirds. He knew they didn't mean any harm, but he just couldn't take any chances.

Once they landed, Kayley and Amethyst exited Thunderbird Two while Scott radioed his father back home on Tracy Island.

"Thunderbird One to base, come in Dad,"

_"Scott, there you are. I was getting worried,"_ Jeff replied._ "How did the rescue go?"_

"The girls are safe. Their legs are broken but, fortunately, they didn't sustain any damage past that," Scott informed. "The gas they were breathing wasn't toxic, and they seemed to perk up pretty quickly once we gave them a ride in Thunderbird Two."

_"You did WHAT?"_ Jeff yelled, loud enough for feedback to hassle the transmission a little.

Scott knew his father would act like this. Explanation ready and waiting, he began, "Father, their friends were on the beach bellow us and we just gave them a little ride, is all. We'll stay with them until we know how they can get back to where they came from."

_"International Rescue is a highly confidential rescue organization, not a taxi service,"_ Jeff sternly affirmed to his eldest. _"You cannot grant people access to the crafts as and when you please, and you most certainly cannot hang around and wait for them to organize themselves. What if you were called on another rescue?"_

"Then we would already be suited up and ready," Scott instantly replied, trying to keep his tone level. "And they're just children, Father. They mean no harm… I think."

_"What's this 'I think'?"_ Jeff inspected, suspiciously.

Scott relayed to his Father a short summary the girls and, well, what they were and how they got here.

To Scott's surprise, his Father chuckled down the transmitter. _"Oh this is rich…"_ he heard him mumble, followed by, _"Tintin, Gordon, come here and listen to this…"_

There was some other low murmurs before the three broke into open laughter.

Gordon leant into the transmitter and said between laughs, _"Bro, come home and get yourself in the pool - the Sun has fried your brain!"_

Scott knew he sounded ridiculous, but he found himself defending the girls. "Look, I'm telling you. I saw everything with my own eyes, and they seem sincere. I'm not going to abandon them while they have no means of getting back to their 'world'."

_"Do you here yourself boy?"_ Jeff chuckled. "_You are saying that these girls are aliens… and you need to help them get back to their home planet? You sound like your brother…"_

_"Hey!" _Gordon exclaimed, crossing his arms.

Scott sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Look," he began to reason, "All four of them are here now. I think we should let Brains have a look at this device of theirs. If anyone can fix it, it's him."

_"You're not suggesting we bring them back to our base, are you?"_ Jeff was more serious now. _"You know that's a security hazard we can't risk."_

"Well we've done it before," Scott countered.

Before Jeff could retaliate, Gordon piped up, _"I wouldn't actually mind meeting these 'wonder kids' of yours. This is something I gotta see for myself!"_

"Thanks Gord," Scott smiled.

_"No, absolutely not,"_ Jeff maintained. _"Last time was under different circumstances."_

"Nevertheless, they need our help," Scott insisted. "We can't turn our backs on them. Look, we'll blindfold them - they won't find out our base that way. Heck, if you're that scared we'll keep a gun on 'em. Please."

Jeff paused for a moment. _"This will be on your head…"_

"Totally understandable,"

_"And they'll be your responsibility to-"_

"I won't show them any more than necessary,"

_"Alright then,"_ Jeff finally gave in. _"But keep an eye on them."_

"Yes Sir!" Scott exclaimed, victoriously. He added, "Don't worry about the whole 'gun thing' - Alan seems petrified of them. He hasn't moved his hand away from his holster all afternoon!"

Kayley and Amethyst quickly hurried - well, hobbled - over to where their two comrades were sat.

Ash and Opal were sat on the sand, clutching several of the beach towels wrapped around them. Their hair was still dripping wet, but in amongst their shivering was the most priceless expression ever. It was a mixture of disbelief, despondency, and sheer utter confusion as they stared up at the two Thunderbirds. They were literally struck dumb.

Opal's face contorted, her brow wrinkling like she was trying to examine the two crafts.

Eventually, she tried to form some words, "T-T-That… is that?"

"International Rescue," Ash finished, the most excited grin forming. She was literally gleaming joy like a child on Christmas Eve. "It's International Rescue!"

"Oh yeah, we never did tell you how we got rescued, did we?" Kayley casually noted, smiling smugly. She knew exactly what was playing through Ash's mind now. Both girls were avid Thunderbirds watchers. Even though the show was dated back to the 60's, every episode still filled them with glee.

"Wow!" Ash exclaimed. "This is the best world yet!"

Amethyst and Opal met eyes, the former saying, "It's going to get worse. I've had this _all_ day."

"Wow… it's just like I'd imagined it…" Ash breathed, gazing awestruck around the cockpit of Thunderbird Two. As she took her seat next to Kayley, her eyes fell on the back of the drivers head. "I-Is that…?"

Kayley nodded. "Scott and Alan are here too."

On queue to his name, Alan walked up the stairs and through to the cockpit as the door to the craft closed behind him. "Are you girls ready?" he asked, a weary gaze in his eyes.

All four nodded and double checked their seatbelts.

"So where are we actually going?" Opal asked, uneasy.

Flicking the switches of the engines and ignition, Virgil replied, "To get that device of yours fixed of course."

Ash and Opal glared at Kayley and Amethyst. "Wait… is he talking about the Dimension Shifter?"

Amethyst gulped. "Maybe…"

"You broke the Dimension Shifter!" Opal yelled.

Kayley held up her hands in surrender. "It broke in the fall! We didn't even know until we woke up!" she defended, truthfully.

Ash seemed to consider this. "Tell us what happened from the beginning, and we'll consider not throwing you out at fifty thousand feet," she reasoned.

Amethyst quickly told them everything they needed to know, Kayley only filling in the details for the rescue.

When they finished relaying events (and calming the pair down), Amethyst chuckled and took the liberty to ask, "What exactly happened to you two then?"

Opal and Ash groaned, recalling the bore that was their afternoon. Obviously it didn't hold a candle to Kayley's and Amethyst's - they knew that - but it didn't take away from the _unpleasantness_.

"We landed at an estimated height of twenty five feet above the water," Opal began, "It was a painful landing to say the least. Once we resurfaced, we swam to the nearest buoyant - sadly, exhaustion played to be our greatest weakness and we couldn't summon up the energy to reach the shore. Luckily for us, people had seen us fall and called in the Coast Guard. Once we got onto the patrol boat they attempted to warm us up with blankets, but it was freezing. Before they were allowed to take us to the shore we had to answer their countless amount of question which was agonizing due to the translation errors."

Ash took over, "When we got the beach they managed to find us some coffee to warm us up, along with dozens of beach towels. The locals were almost fascinated by us, though the kids that saw us fall first thought we were mermaids. They were genuinely disappointed when we safely reached the shore and _walked_ to them.

Kayley and Amethyst stifled a laugh, deeming it might not go down so well with the others.

Amethyst couldn't help it. "Ha ha! That's going to keep me entertained for the entire journey!"

She soon met the consequences of Opal's elbow.

Virgil had levelled out the Thunderbird by now, so he thought it best to inform, "Okay, we're up. Feel free to take off your seatbelts."

The four did just that.

Kayley paused for a moment, then said, "Where are we going anyway? You mentioned something about fixing the shifter, but I don't think they'll be an electrical appliances store willing to help us out around here."

"I know someone who might be able to help you," Virgil smiled. "He's a genius with gadgets like yours."

Ash gasped, realization striking her at full velocity. "Are you talking about Brains?! Are we going to Tracy Island?!"

Alan's head shot up and he turned to his older brother with a pleading look, almost as if saying, "The whole 'throwing them out at fifty thousand feet' thing would be welcomed right about now."

But his brother was focused on flying, coolly smiling to himself. He hadn't seen him.

Alan subconsciously tightened the grip on his pistol, almost wishing for them to make an error. He sent an unfair scowl in the direction of the laughing, chattering teenagers. Alan didn't know what he had against the four, but it was substantial enough to make him overly careful of his surroundings. And now they have access to his home?!

"How Dad agreed to that I'll never know…" he muttered to himself.

Kayley glanced in his direction, her smiling fading slightly when she saw his posture. "You wanna take it easy with the firearm there, Alan?" she suggested, straightening up in her seat.

Alan realized what he didn't like about them: it was their confidence and certainty of the power they possessed, like they could kill them all with a single thought but found it best to hide under the innocent façade of normal, harmless teenagers.

Alan didn't move.

Kayley sighed. "You still don't trust us do you? Look, I know what-"

Kayley made the mistake of standing up from her seat, just to pace around a little like she always did when she was pleading her case. _She had enough experience doing that at school._

"Don't move," Alan ordered, rapidly drawing his gun and aiming it at Kayley's chest...


	6. Alan Acts On His Fears

Opal shifted in her seat, protectively moving in front of Amethyst. Amethyst was near petrified of guns. She hated them, and was uneasy if one was even in her presence… but now one was drawn at one of her best friends by a man that looked like he would kill if necessary, she was terrified.

"What's happening back there?" Virgil demanded, but it was like he hadn't said anything at all.

Opal stared down Alan with pure hatred. She pushed her glasses up to the bridge of her nose as the flames flickered inside them.

Kayley slowly raised her hands, not wanting to make any sudden movements she would regret.

Almost as if she was reading Opal's mind, she cautioned, "Opal, don't do anything foolish now, okay? I don't want you to make this worse for all of us."

Opal reluctantly nodded and the flames stopped.

Kayley gulped. She wasn't too keen on guns either, especially when they were pointed directly at her. Sadly, Kayley knew her temper could get the better of her in this situation, so before she even contemplated speaking she counted backwards from ten.

"Look, Alan, I know you don't trust us," she began, slowly, "But I want you to know that we mean you no harm. We're not here to hurt you or your brothers. You guys are, like, my role models."

Alan lowered the gun slightly, but didn't drop it completely. "We are?" he checked. He seemed genuinely touched at her supposed sincerity, but anyone was a gun aimed at them is going to try a little bit of sweet talk.

"Definitely," Kayley confirmed, wracking her brain for something, anything that would make Alan drop the gun. She knew this would be killing Amethyst. "You're so protective of everyone, especially your family. You would lay down your life for anybody. Even though you're the youngest you have a maturity for your job far beyond your age. Remember that time you were trapped on that bridge with Grandma? You were so calm, desperate to keep still if not for your sake, for hers. And what about that time with the alligators? Just to lead them away from the house you went down to the ground and used yourself as bait. You did it just to save those people trapped inside. So if you're so protective of people, why do you want to harm me?"

"You come in here claiming you have magical abilities that have been used in battle before, no doubt to kill people. Forgive me if I'm a little uneasy," Alan remarked, dryly.

"Alan," Kayley said slowly, "we don't want to hurt you. Why hurt the only ones who have a chance of getting us back home safely?"

Alan knew Kayley had him pegged. Defeated, he put his gun back in his holster and said, "I'm sorry. After everything that has been said and done, I still find it hard to consider you anything other than a danger. Forgive me."

Kayley nodded and returned to her seat…

For the remaining journey, Alan conversed with Ash and Kayley about the various different rescues they had seen. Obviously, they'd only seen a fraction of them on television, but they were lucky enough for Alan to divulge some more to them. They figured he felt kinda bad for the whole 'gun point' thing, and rightly so. The journey to Tracy Island wouldn't be that long but his stories were funny and riveting all at the same time. However, Alan didn't tell them anymore than they needed to know regarding the vehicles or secrets of the base. He didn't trust them _that_ much. Still, Alan had presented them a perfect opportunity to kill him and they didn't take it - that's gotta score some Brownie points.

Tracy Island. Jeff and Gordon sat patiently, each sipping the coffee Kyrano had made them, both awaiting the arrival of Virgil, Scott and Alan with their guests.

When they heard jet engines rumbling in the distance, approaching with speed, Jeff put down his mug and said, "That'll be the boys. Gordon, you meet them at Thunderbird Two's hanger and escort them up here."

"Sure Dad!" Gordon beamed, bounding away.

When the four gobsmacked children stepped into the hanger they were immediately greeted by an over-excited Gordon, waving at them with a cheesy grin as he said, "Oh look! It's the fairies!"

"Fairies," Opal whined, shoulders sinking.

"Hey, better that than 'look, it's the witches of doom with their hideous green, blue and pink uniforms! Let's burn them at the stake!'." Amethyst countered, fairly.

Opal shuddered at the memory.

Ash did a double take on Gordon, leaned in closer to Kayley and whispered, "He's actually not that bad looking in real life, eh?"

"I was just thinking the same thing!" Kayley exclaimed, quietly.

"Girls, this is my brother, Gordon," Virgil introduced, announcing, "Brother mine, these are the 'Guardians of Kandrakar'."

"A pleasure," Gordon welcomed, shaking each of them by the hand. He turned to his older brother. "Dad said for me to escort you guys up to the main lounge. No problem with that, right?"

Virgil shook his head and allowed Gordon to lead the way.

Scott was already waiting for them with his father in the lounge. Gordon eyed up the scotch whiskey half empty in his glass. "At this time of the afternoon, brother?" he commented, chuckling.

"It's been a long day," Scott informed, taking another small sip.

"Wow! International Rescue headquarters!" Ash squealed, bounding into the lounge. She took one look at Jeff and exclaimed, "Hello Mr Tracy!"

Jeff crinkled his brow. "Hello to you to, young ladies,"

He quietly examined each girl. None of them had pixie wings or a superhero costume on, and he wondered what all the fuss was about. He made a mental note to himself, saying that the consequences would be dear if Scott had been so easily tricked. Deciding to get straight to the point, he said, "Now, Scott insisted you needed our help. Is this true?"

Opal nodded. "It's our transportation device. It was shattered in our journey here, but from what my friends and I hear, you have one of the best scientists in the world at your base, yes?"

"That's an understatement," Virgil smiled. Kayley agreed, adding, "Brains is the man responsible for the design and construction of all the Thunderbird crafts. He's a genius!"

"Brains, why don't you come out here?" Scott suggested.

The blushing man poked his head around the corner before edging out into full view. He was a tall man, but quite scrawny for his height.

"Uh, h-hello uh, girls," Brains stuttered. "H-How can I, uh, h-help you?"

Alan dropped the bag of shard remains (and Darius) on the coffee table in front of him. Brains pushed up his glasses and examined the bag. "What is-uh, _was_ it?"

"A Dimension Shifter," Kayley informed. "A device with the magical power to split the fabric of the universes and cross dimensions."

"M-Magic?" Brains laughed. "My dear, there uh, is uh, n-no such thing!"

"Yeah, well I thought a lot of things didn't exist until today," Amethyst countered, gazing gleefully around the room. Kayley and Ash had forced her at - paintball gun point - into watching an episode once. The room looked just like it did on television - the five pictures on the wall were of the brothers in their International Rescue attire; there was the infamous control desk where Jeff would control every operation; and just outside was the pool to which Thunderbird One would launch from. It was like a dream!

"Doesn't exist, huh?" Kayley chuckled. "Care for a demonstration?"

Brains shuffled awkwardly in place. But, curiosity peaked, he eventually agreed.

Kayley smiled and turned to Ash. "Show 'em how it's done sister!"

"FAB!" Ash exclaimed. Bracing herself, she clenched her fists tightly and from sheer concentration, managed to vanish from sight completely.

Jeff shot up from his desk. He was past the murmured gasps coming from his young, simply to try and find some logic behind all this. Jeff had never believed in magic and he was determined that wasn't going to change so easily.

Ash appeared moments later, gasping for breath. She took a seat on one of the lovely leather armchairs. "Okay, that was harder than I expected," she commented, coughing for air.

"Trick of the light," Jeff concluded, arms crossed.

Ash looked to Kayley, exasperated. Luckily, the four boys chorused their defence for them. "But Dad, we saw it with our own eyes!"

"I'm not as gullible as you may think," Jeff maintained, adding, "And you three have lived with Gordon long enough to have picked up a thing or two as well."

"I'm right here!" Gordon exclaimed, throwing up his hands in frustration.

Opal sighed. "I cannot be bothered with this fiasco today," she grumbled. With that, she summoned a small ball of fire to her palms and danced it gracefully in the air. The flames seemingly hypnotized the Tracy boys, watching on with gaping mouths.

Jeff wasn't about to admit anything he could later be ridiculed for. Changing the subject, he instructed, "Brains, I want you to go to the workshop and see if you can get a handle on this device."

"Yes, uh, M-M-Mr T-Tracy…" Brains nodded, picking up the bag and escaping off to his workshop.

Kayley, Ash and Amethyst stared expectantly at Opal. Opal huffed at the glares and grumbled, "Just because I have a higher GPA than the three of you combined, does not mean I know left from right about mechanics."

The three didn't back down.

"I've never even touched a control panel!" Opal argued. "Besides, Kayley's the one with the way with electrics. Send her!"

Nobody flinched.

"Arrg! Fine! I'm going!" Opal groaned, storming after Brains.

"No no no… I refuse to believe it," Tin-tin maintained slowly pacing the width of the room.

Since Kayley and Ash knew 'Thunderbirds' like the back of their hands, they thought it only fair to share some of said knowledge to the Tracy boys on hopes it would help them in the future. The first one that came to mind was the identity of the Hood - a money/power hungry villain intent on finding the secrets of International Rescue. He'd been after them ever since their first rescue on the Fireflash's maiden voyage.

"I refuse to believe that monster is my half uncle!" Tin-tin whimpered.

"You are absolutely certain?" Alan checked, putting his arms around Tin-tin and gently rocking her back and forth.

The two girls nodded.

"But it's not possible," Jeff contended, shaking his head firmly.

Ash frowned. "I'm sorry,"

"No, I mean it's literally not possible," Jeff maintained. Using the silence as his queue to continue, he began, "Many years ago I was travelling around Asia during my time off from the space program. I'd always wanted to see the continent, and the escape was just what I needed. Whilst I was exploring the depths of the Malaysian jungle, I came across a mining camp far away from any other part of civilization. It was here I first met Tin-tin and Kyrano. They offered me food and shelter with them, which I graciously accepted. Then, during my stay, there was a terrible, unexpected rock fall. By some miracle I managed to pull Tin-tin and Kyrano out of harm's way just before the rocks crushed our tent. However, Kyrano's half-brother, Bela Gaat, was not so lucky. I saw the rocks crush his tent with my own eyes, him inside. It was brutal. No-one could have survived that."

Kayley fought back the urge to snicker. It wasn't because of the accident at all and could see how some people would read it that way; it was the fact the Hood managed to survive against all odds.

The Hood seems to survive everything. He'd been in car crashes, bi-plane crashes, bomb explosions, gun fire - he'd even fallen off a cliff on multiple occasions and still survived.

Ash had once joked that you could shoot the Hood in the head at point blank range with a shotgun and he'd still survive.

"It would make sense he still holds a grudge against you, Father," Virgil chimed in. "If he thinks you saved them instead of him."

"You can't always save everyone, boys," Jeff sighed. "I've told you that many times."

With almost perfect timing, Kyrano walked in and set down a tray of drinks. "Coffee and, uh, Lemonade, Mr Tracy."

"Thank you Kyrano," Jeff nodded, adding, "Listen, Kyrano…"

Luckily, Tin-tin continued for him, "Father, I have some… news," she began, knowing either good or bad would not have sat well in that phrase. "The girls have been talking with us, and forgive me for putting it so bluntly… they told us your half-brother is still alive and masquerading as the wanted criminal, the Hood."

Kyrano didn't flinch. "I see…" he nodded, altering his tone. "I am shocked. I can't believe it. I thought he had, uh, perished."

"Father, you've always been a terrible liar," Tin-tin informed, wearily. "What do you want to tell us?"

"What's on your mind, Kyrano?" Jeff urged.

Kyrano sighed. "See, I knew, uh, he was alive all this time,"

Everyone gasped, _although it was pretty obvious._

"Kyrano…" Scott tried, slowly. He couldn't think past that though.

"I knew he never died in that, uh, rock fall," Kyrano explained. "I thought he did at first, but then he came to me at the time of settling the ownership of the rubber factory. Once I got past the shock, he, uh, managed to cheat me out of my share. I don't know how. But afterwards, I came back to you, Tin-tin, and I told you that there were 'legal troubles' when it came to the, uh, fortune. Truth is, I never cared for the, uh, material possessions of this world. I just pretended like he had perished in the accident and never spoke of him again."

Ash considered this and nodded her head slowly. "Huh," she mumbled. "Who knew?"

After that, everyone sat in silence. Finally, Alan piped up, "Where can we find him?" - he spoke through gritted teeth.

Kayley shrugged, wishing she could be more helpful. "He's in some Malaysian temple. That's all we know."

Then, the solemn mood was interrupted by…


	7. FAB!

"We did it! We did it!" Opal cheered, bounding into the room, oblivious to the conversation at hand. So wrapped up in her excitement, she babbled, "It was simply a matter of piecing the parts together like a puzzle, and then embrace the quantum instrument at the centre of the molecular-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Amethyst halted, shaking off her dejected mood. "Less nerd speak more text speak."

Opal stared at her with unimpressed eyes. "Me. Got-"

"Okay! I get it!"

Brains took over, "T-This is uh, a w-wonderful piece of uh, technology girls," he carefully placed the newly shining box of tricks down on the coffee table. "It was a real, uh, treat to e-examine its uh, components. I'm glad to say that uh, it a-actually might work. I-In theory, it should uh, be able to s-send you folks home."

"Well that's great Brains!" Virgil congratulated.

"This is wonderful Brains!" Kayley exclaimed, "Thank you so much!"

"Just make sure you take that contraption with you," Jeff mumbled, raising his tone to say, "In the wrong hands, that device could be lethal. _If_ it works, that is."

"It will," Brains assured.

Opal continued, "It gets better - we've programmed it so that it will transport us straight back to our dimension this time. No more hopping randomly through space and time!"

Everyone cheered and clapped gleefully, but it didn't take long for the grins of the four Guardians to start fading.

"What's wrong girls?" Scott asked. Alan added, "Yeah, I thought you'd be esctatic to be going home."

"Yeah, we are…" Amethyst sighed, failing to sound enthused. "But… it's just that… I don't think I want to go home."

"We have to, Amethyst," Opal stated, dismally.

"But as soon as we get back, it's all systems go again, no questions asked," Amethyst protested. "Do you know how much damaged could have been caused by now? We've been away, what, just over a month? I doubt they'll be anything to come back to."

Kayley put a hand on Amethyst's shoulder. "I know what you mean, sister. This has kind of been like one long holiday, but it had to end somewhere. And I know I'm going to sound like a real cheesy leader for saying this, but it's our duty to help those people. It's our job to fight for them."

Opal considered this. "You're right, that does sound 'cheesy'."

Amethyst brushed past the remark and countered, "But why? Why do we have to? They just expect us to go and fight for them when it's got nothing to do with us. When did we stop asking questions?"

Ash sighed. "I don't know about any of those things, but the bottom line is that all good things have to come to an end. We have a life back home that I'm not willing to give up that easily, even with the whole Guardian thing. Besides, the fun's not over yet - we still have the return journey to look forward to."

"Joy," Amethyst quipped, defeated. She knew that no matter how much she argued, they'd find a way to convince her to agree and honestly, she was in no mood for a debate. "Alright, I'm game. Let's just get this over with."

Kayley and Ash cheered. Then, Kayley walked up and shook each member of International Rescue by hand - even though she usually refused to shake _anyone's_ hands. As she walked, she reiterated, "Thank you so much for your kindness and hospitality, not to mention saving our lives."

"Don't mention it," Jeff warmed.

Scott agreed, "Yeah, we're glad to help."

"It was a pleasure having you here," Tin-tin smiled with a slight, extremely hard to notice tinge of malice to her voice as her mind wondered back to her half uncle.

Kayley didn't notice and walked back to her group. "Oh, and one more thing," Kayley mentioned, turning back. She picked Darius up off the coffee table and handed it to Scott. "Keep him charged, will ya? He'll have a field day talking to all the technology here."

"O~kay…" Scott hesitated, flipping the walkie-talkie in his palm.

"Take care Darius," Kayley grinned. "And thanks again."

_"My pleasure doll,"_ Darius crackled in reply. _"Oh, and tell Amy she has my frequency."_

Opal and Ash panned their gaze to the blushing figure of Amethyst. "Ohhh…" Ash nodded slowly with a knowing smile. "I didn't realize you and the walkie-talkie were an item."

"We're not," Amethyst grumbled. The other two sniggered.

Kayley, Ash, Amethyst and Opal each grabbed one of the newly installed handles of the Shifter, lifting it in the air.

"This is it," Kayley breathed, bracing herself.

"Yep," Amethyst nodded, shuffling uncomfortably on the spot.

Opal pressed a button and the device started flaring and fizzing and whizzing and generally making a fuss of its capabilities and existence, _if you know what I mean._

"Here we go," Opal pressed the final button and began to feel the electricity pulsing around her.

Jeff and the boys stood three miles back as bolts of electricity shot randomly from the device.

Just as they were about to be transported away, Ash yelled, "VIRGIL I LOVE YOU!"

And then the flaring and fizzing and whizzing stopped, as did the lightning bolts.

They were still in the lounge. All four of them. So were the huddled International Rescue family. Said family began to slowly unfold themselves from their near-to-cowering positions.

"Well, that was sufficiently awkward…" Ash concluded, blushing ever so slightly.

They sat the device back down on the coffee table and Amethyst sunk down into the big leather armchair. "What happened?" she asked, "Why are we still here?"

"I-I don't understand…" Brains shook his head. "I-It should of uh, worked."

"That was out last chance," Opal mumbled, staring hopelessly down at the Shifter.

"So that's it," Amethyst huffed. "We're stuck here forever."

"Not quite so," Kayley started, keeling down to be eye level with the device. "I think I know why it's not working."

Ash urged, "Well go on then!"

Kayley explained, "Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but the Shifter runs on _magic_ energy, right? When it was broken, all the stored up energy vanished and hasn't been replaced. I mean, Raven must have had to max out the power of this thing with magic energy in order to get this bad boy working. Now it has none."

"So, you're saying it won't work unless we feed it magic?" Amethyst speculated.

"Precisely,"

Opal mentally kicked herself, grumbling, "I can't believe I didn't think of that…"

Not hearing her, Ash suggested, "Well, we _are_ hooked up to the Aurameres. _We_ have magic inside of _us_."

"That… is an option," Opal nodded. "It would drain us completely, though. And if the situation calls for us to run…"

"I don't like it," Amethyst stated.

Kayley concurred, but reminded, "We have to get home somehow. It's the only way possible. Believe me, it's not my first choice but it's our only choice. If you have any better ideas speak up."

Sadly, there was silence.

Kayley moved to pick up the Shifter and clutched tightly onto one of the handles. Calling upon their hesitation, she stated, "I can't reassure you guys in any way. I don't know where this thing will take us. I don't know who or what will be on the other side. I don't even know if we'll survive the fall. But we are going, and going now."

Her tone bore no mercy.

Ash shrugged, a grin beginning to form. "Screw it, let's do this!" she bounded over to the device and grabbed a handle.

Opal sighed. "No time like the present…"

Amethyst didn't budge.

"Come on Amy!" Ash urged, motioning her over.

Amethyst threw her hands in the air. "Fine! But if we die now I am so kicking your ass in the afterlife!"

Opal smiled, cunningly. "I'll save you a seat by the fire."

"Oh no, I'm not going to Hell," Amethyst replied, lightly.

"Oh you aren't, are you? You have other plans?"

"Uh-huh,"

Ash shushed them quiet, saying, "Philosophical debate on the other side, if you please."

Opal smiled, devilishly. "Yes, but which other side?"

Kayley nudged her hard in the ribs. "You'll find out soon enough," she concluded, adding, "but let's hope the other side is just Pinewood…"

The four shifted their standing positions, trying to relax as much as possible. Ash was worried about Amethyst hyperventilating again, so was coaching her through some slow breathing exercises.

"Ready?" Kayley checked.

"Ready," the three chorused.

With that, the Shifter began to flare and fizz and whiz again as Kayley pressed the first button.

"Here we go…" Kayley gulped, pressing the final button that began to shoot lightning bolts out across the room. Energy beams began pulsing from the girls; dark blue for Kayley, turquoise for Amethyst, orange for Opal and purple for Ash. Their grip and the handles began to loosen, but they knew that the last thing they could do was let go.

Soon, Kayley's legs became heavier, but she forced herself to remain standing. Then there was a thud and her grip was angled downwards. Someone was on the floor, but the light was too blinding for her to open her eyes. The strain was just too much to take. Kayley could feel every essence of her being vacuumed out. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and dropped to the floor to join one of her fellow Guardians. The rest would soon follow.

Jeff slowly stood upright when the gushes of wind stopped, then he moved his raised hand that was blocking his view of the light. They were gone. They didn't leave a trace behind… save for Darius and the newly wrecked lounge area. Jeff still accepted the possibility this was one long dream.

"Well…" he said, turning to his eldest. "That was a new experience."

Scott nodded and surveyed the damage, as did his brothers. He cricked his neck and stretched his arms. "Well, now that's over with, I'm going to go take a shower," he announced.

As the crowd began to fan out, mostly to cash in some well-earned relaxation time or take a shower, John's eyes began to flash.

"DAMNIT!" The four boys groaned, reluctantly falling into place on the couches and armchairs…

_[AUTOR'S NOTE] Wassup people o' Tracy Island and the 603 represent?! KOALA is GO! is at an E.N.D and if you're like me y'all be sayin': "Yo tis about time hommie!"_

_Imma start writing ma new story entitled: KOALA: The Next Generation of Guardians. - This is going to be ma main story using characters and ideas from dis one. I know I wrote dis one before KOALA - TNG but Dimension Hoppers is a branch off o' dat tree. It's time da focus and get busy with my main saga homies! 'Nyways, 'nuff ramblin'. If any y'all read da story I'd 'preciate it. If not den 'shammone' player! :D_

_Peace. :D_


End file.
